Is it Thursday already?!

This week has been a good week. Most of my days are spent trying to do things with the children and around the house, and then my nights are spent tutoring, going to church activities, and then trying to get in some fun time at least one night a week! It's gotten really busy lately! One thing that has encouraged me this week, though, is spending some prayer time with some of my sisters in Christ. Me and a few other women are seeking the Lord's guidance on some things, so we decided to meet for prayer about it. Of course, I was looking forward to doing this, but those few minutes of prayer time really ministered to me. It's so good to pray with other believers...but I especially enjoy praying with other Godly women. It reminded me of a book/Bible study I did when I was in college. May be time to get that one out again!

Prayer is so essential in the Christian life...yet I think I neglect it too much. Especially prayer with others in a small group or just a group of women. We do a lot of corporate prayer in the church, but I miss the small group prayer times. Meeting yesterday reminded me of past times of meeting and praying with friends and how God worked through that. I pray that the Lord would continue to provide more times like yesterday!

Other than that, I'm just trying to keep up! :-) I'm sure many of you know what that's like!

Hope you have a blessed day!

Amazed by Him

Last week I kind of had some trying days. There was nothing anyone did to make me feel blah, it was honestly kind of unexplainable. Physically I wasn't feeling that well, so that may be part of it. But I was struggling a little and really wanted to feel some encouragement. I was looking to different sources to encourage me...friends, family, sleep, cleaning house...but I wasn't having good quality time with my Lord. Isn't it weird how the correlation between not having time with God and having a not-so-great week is so strong?! In my life it is! So last night I sat down and started catching up on my Bible study (Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer), which I think is awesome, and there was a verse that stood out to me. It was Matthew 11:28 and Jesus said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." That's just what I desired. I wanted rest from my anxious thoughts, my weariness, and just feeling blah. I thought, ok, God, I need to come to you with these feelings. I felt a lot of peace last night. I realized that I need to go to Him more for rest, not depend on all those other things to give me rest. I went to bed and woke up today and headed off to church. The title of the sermon today was "Come to Jesus." I love that Chris Rice song (Untitled Hymn) that has that phrase in it's lyrics. I thought, this should be a great sermon. The text...Matthew 11:28-30. Pretty amazing, huh?! I was amazed. The God of the universe set all this up so that I can be encouraged in my daily life. I wrote out the entire passage in my journal.
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Wow...He knew just what I needed. He's already told me twice in less than 24 hours. I wrote at the top of the page, "God, you are GOOD!!! Thank you for speaking to me!!"
What a great way to start out a new week. Today I was spending time with other believers and studying God's Word and I have felt so encouraged. But most of all I am blessed that I know the one true God, who knows my needs, who loves me, and who wants to encourage me.
Amazing!

Sophie-isms...

I love when my little girl knows just what to say to encourage me. I've got a little cold this week and I haven't been feeling that great. Tonight she climbed up into my lap and whispered, "Mommy, guess what?" I said, "what?" She said, "I love you!" Then she whispered again,"guess what?" I said, "what?" She said, "I want to give you kisses!" Precious girl. I needed sweet little girl kisses tonight after a long day! I also love that sweet smile!

Joe told me that while he was rocking her he said, "Sophie, you're my girl." Sophie said, "You're my girl, too, Daddy."

Although Sophie is the only one who can talk, I must add that Isaac brightens my day with that sweet, toothy smile of his. I can't get enough. He also has the best laugh. He's so ticklish and I love tickling his little tummy and chin.

I'm so thankful for my kiddos! God bless you today!

Hobbies...

There are several things that I enjoy doing...the only problem is that I don't have enough time to do them! It's hard to have a good block of time where there aren't any interruptions! As I've mentioned before, one of my hobbies is trying to sew. I definitely say trying because I'm just a beginner, but the better I get at it, the more ambitious I get! I like getting help, too. I seem to learn things when I actually do them as opposed to trying to read the manual.

Another hobby, I guess you could call it, is planning birthday parties for my kids. I love it! I love looking up ideas on the net from other people's parties and putting my own together. I love making the cake/cupcakes, making the invitations, getting/making the decorations, etc. I know that my kids are too young to probably remember it, but honestly, I think I have more fun than they do. Plus I enjoy having friends/family over to celebrate with us. I'm already looking up ideas for our first double party (Isaac and Sophie's birthdays are 4 days apart!). I'm thinking we're going to do a Peter Pan/Wendy party. The ideas are already brewing! :-D

I did the ladybug cake and cupcakes for Sophie's first party, along with the styrofoam ladybug magnets for party favors/find the ladybugs in the yard game. Last year I drew/wrote out what I wanted and my mom, bless her!, made/decorated it for me (I was very large with child at that time). She's a great cake maker/decorator. But anyway, both parties were a lot of fun!

I have other hobbies I enjoy, too, but these came to mind because it's what I'm thinking about and doing lately. I really love homemade things. I have enjoyed making things for Sophie to take as gifts to birthday parties. Growing up, my mom would help us make our own Christmas gifts for teachers, family, and friends. I hope to make memories like that with my own little ones.

What do you love to do?! I would love some comments! :-) They make me happy! :-)

Blessings!

Husband's Delight

That is what was cookin' tonight. I pulled out my most used write in the recipes cookbook and thought this afternoon about what I would make tonight. It's been one of those crazy days...got up early to exercise, then went for a walk with friends, had to take little man to the doctor (another ear infection), and then on to Walmart. After Walmart it just seemed to continue to be crazy trying to get kids settled and start supper early. Some of my plans changed and some unexpected blessing occurred. One of those days. But God is so good. I'm continually amazed by His goodness to me. I want to share this real quick story...I had to call a friend today at the last minute to help me with the kids. I hate to do that (don't want to inconvenience anyone)...I actually have rarely done that since we've had kids. But I was supposed to tutor tonight. Well, the tutoring fell through, so I called my friend to cancel. But it was with a heavy heart because I really wanted to see my friend and just spend time with her. When we hung up, I prayed, but didn't really believe it would happen, so it was almost like a wish. I was like, Lord, I really want her to call me back and say that she'll come anyway. Honestly. I just kept thinking that over and over. Not even 5 minutes later, the phone rings. My friend called me back and said, "Hey, if the hubby isn't going to be home and you want some company, I can still come over and we can hang out." Wow. My faith is SO small....but God is still amazingly good to me! I had a great time with my friend. I needed it and the Lord knew what I needed...and He knew the desires of my heart. I'm just in amazement.

And now...here is the recipe :-)
Husband's Delight

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 clove chopped garlic (or garlic salt--sorry, my recipe doesn't have the amount...I'm guessing just a sprinkling)
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce (I only had one can, so I filled the other can with pre-made spaghetti sauce and omitted the sugar and garlic)
• dash pepper
• 8 oz noodles (I used the whole wheat spirally noodles)
• 3 green onions
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used a combo of cheddar and mozzarella)

Brown meat, drain, put back into pan and add sugar, garlic, and spaghetti sauce. Cover and simmer for 15 mins. Cook 8oz noodles as directed on pkg. Chop 3 small green onions very fine and mix with 8 oz cream cheese and 1 cup sour cream. Grease baking dish (13x9) and put layer of noodles, meat sauce, then cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle 1 cup grated cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Yum! And it makes a good bit...so if you don't have a large family, it will freeze.

We had this along with spoonbread (I have this recipe on a previous post). Sophie ate it up...so did Joe and I! It was really good! Hope you enjoy. And I hope that God blesses you today as He did me!

Anniversary and fall festival

I've gotten a little behind on my posting! I wanted to give a brief little summary of what's been going on! Joe and I celebrated a wonderful 5 years of marriage last Friday. Time sure does go by fast! Some of the highlights of these past five years include going on mission trips to St. Petersburg, Russia and Toronto, Canada, experiencing the pregnancy and birth of two precious children, home improvements, church visits, sharing the Gospel, and several fun vacations to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and even right here in Georgia. So many wonderful memories. I'm so thankful for my patient, kind, and Godly husband! He was so worth waiting for! God is good! We had a fun date Friday night and we're looking forward to going to a UGA game later on to complete the celebration!
Tonight our church had a fall festival. It was a chilly night, but we had a good time! The favorite movie right now in our house is Peter Pan, so Sophie was dressed as Wendy and Isaac was dressed as Peter Pan. We had a good time and I think my little ones looked adorable! But what can I say...I'm a little biased ;-).

Shopping day!

I want to say how thankful I am for good friends! My friend Jennifer, bless that girl, offered to come over this morning, help me with my kids (hers were staying with her parents for a few days), and go shopping at the Goodwill and the grocery store. What a blessing to have help! We had a fun time looking for good deals. I was excited to find lots of fun dress up clothes for Sophie at the Goodwill, including some really fun hats. I've been wanting to do a dress up box for her, so I went specifically looking for dress up stuff, and was excited to find some! I also found some cute clothes for Sophie and Isaac. You can't beat 20 cents for an article of baby clothing! I also found me a yoga/pilates kit with a mat, blocks, and strap for a few dollars, and lots of children's books. I love getting books for the kids. Especially when they're only 25 cents a piece! Here's a pic of Sophie's new dress up stuff...hats are in the front :-).

Next we headed out to Harvey's. It's become my new grocery shopping place. I look at their sale paper or online and figure out what it is I want or need. Then I see what coupons I can find to match the deals. The greatest deal I've gotten is on meat! I now have a freezer stocked up with more meat than I've ever had! Today I bought large quantities and divided it into smaller bags, labeled them, and put them in the freezer. Here are all the bags of meat that I had just from today's purchase!

This is my now full freezer! It's never been this full before. It's exciting to see all that God's provided for our family. On this grocery trip I saved $65! Woohoo! Thank you, Lord! So in two weeks I've been able to save a little over $100 on groceries. God has provided for us!

I'm so thankful to know Him! God bless!

31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids

I have this little pamphlet that we keep in the bathroom. It's put together by Bob Hostetler and I really like it. When I have a few minutes, I look at this list and pray for my kids. I don't do it enough, but I think this are great things to pray for them and I wanted to pass it on. It's excerpted from Pray! magazine issue #4. You can also find info. on this magazine at www.praymag.com. I'll list the virtue and a verse with it. God bless!

1. Salvation--Is. 45:8, 2 Tim. 2:10
2. Growth in grace--2 Pet. 3:18
3. Love--Gal. 5:25, Eph. 3:2
4. Honesty and Integrity--Ps. 25:21
5. Self-control--1 Thess. 5:6
6. Love for God's Word--Ps. 19:10
7. Justice--Ps. 11:7, Mic. 6:8
8. Mercy--Lk. 6:36
9. Respect (for self, others, authority)--1 Pet. 2:17
10. Biblical self-esteem--Eph. 2:10
11. Faithfulness--Prov. 3:3
12. Courage--Dt. 31:6
13. Purity--Ps. 51:10
14. Kindness--1 Thess. 5:15
15. Generosity--1 Tim. 6:18-19
16. Peace-loving--Rom. 14:19
17. Joy--1 Thess. 1:6
18. Perseverance--Heb. 12:1
19. Humility--Titus 3:2
20. Compassion--Col. 3:12
21. Responsibility--Gal. 6:5
22. Contentment--Phil. 4:12-13
23. Faith--Lk. 17:5-6, Heb. 11:1-40
24. A servant's heart--Eph. 6:7
25. Hope--Ro. 15:13
26. Willingness and ability to work--Col. 3:23
27. Passion for God--Ps. 63:8 (KJV)
28. Self-discipline--Prov. 1:3
29. Prayerfulnes--Eph. 6:18
30. Gratitude--Eph. 5:20, Col. 2:7
31. A heart for missions--Ps. 96:3

The fair!

We had a great time going to the fair together. We were pretty excited when we found out that the price would be cut in half and children 10 and under were free with each adult! Woohoo! So we picked up Joe from work on Thursday and headed off to Perry. We needed a little family outing since we have been so busy. We walked around, went to the circus, and the night was complete once we got a funnell cake before we left! Oh...and my favorite...we saw the fireworks right as we were leaving. I love fireworks! This just affirms the fact that it's fall...even though the weather was so hot that evening! We were all sweating! I guess that's Georgia for you! :-)

Happy fall, everyone!

My latest projects...

I've been in the craft mood again lately. I really enjoy making things for people for a baby shower or when Sophie is invited to a birthday party. Last year I did a lot of tote bags....and I still enjoy doing those. This year I've really gotten into making the pillow case dresses. Through learning to make these, I've developed an interest in sewing. The only sewing experience I have is making a pillow in Home Ec. when I was in high school. I still have that pillow :-). But the only other sewing type stuff I've done was just hand stitching. I went through a phase of really enjoying embroidery. I still do, but I don't do much of it these days. But getting back to the sewing thing, I am really excited about my new interest. I went to Hobby Lobby the other day (I LOVE that store!) and found a few inexpensive and easy patterns. I'm hoping that I will follow through and make some things for Sophie! In the mean time....I'm going to keep making the pillowcase dresses! Here are a few things I've made recently. The bag was for baby Joshua and the dress was for Christen...one of Sophie's friends. I've made another dress for a friend of Sophie's, but we haven't been to the party yet....so I'll wait to post that one :-).

One last thing....I saved $42 on my grocery bill today!! Woohoo! I only had one coupon, too. I just looked online at the grocery store here in town and wrote down all the good deals and that's basically all I bought. I got 7 different meats, too. I was so excited about it that I had to post about it! I think I'm starting to see some progress!

Blessings to you!

Fall fun

Fall....I think it has become my new favorite season. I used to always be a summer girl. I loved the sun, the warmth, etc. But I guess in my older age...and I'm sure having two children plays into that, too...I'm really leaning towards the cooler weather. But not too cool. Just right...like the weather is right now. We had a great day in Macon today. I'm trying to be frugal in my shopping, but it's hard. I went to Target today and God blessed me by having a lady come up to us and ask if we would like the rest of her coupons that she wasn't using....I said...YES! Turns out that those coupons allowed me to save a little over $7 on my bill. Wow! Thank you, Lord. He's helping me. It may be small, but it adds up. I'm also going to attempt to start sewing. It's going to be tough, but I'm starting to get kind of interested in it. My creations are not perfect, but they hold together and look kind of cute in the process! :-) We'll see how this new little venture goes. I got to go to Hobby Lobby today and I picked out two patterns that are very easy, so I hope that I can manage them as a beginner. Then we went back to Mom and Dad's house and had a little photo shoot in their front yard. The girls and my little man were so cute. It just makes me smile thinking that fall is here. And, of course, I love looking into the faces of my sweet babies!

Happy fall!

Sophie-isms

I love hearing my little girl talk. She is a spunky little thing and sometimes her words need correction, but many times they are encouraging and fun. I mentioned before that Sophie loves Cinderella. Well, we haven't watched Cinderelly in a while...there's a new guy in town. His name is Peter Pan. That's her new favorite movie to watch. I think she could watch it every day! Her watching this has led to some of the cutest things (I think) she's said to date! So this is what I hear Sunday morning when I'm getting ready for church and she's still in her room....Sophie's walking around in her room with the light off saying...

"Shadow....shadow...." I know that might not sound as funny in print, but I thought it was so cute! I hope you're familiar with Peter Pan...or that definitely wouldn't be cute! :-)

Tonight while I was in the kitchen, I heard her in the living room talking to Joe and she was saying, "Peta (in a British accent, like the cartoon), Peta..." and Joe said, "You mean, Peter?" She said, "No, Daddy, Peta."

Today we were working on potty training (don't get me started on how hard this has been!) and I have a kitchen timer that I've been setting for every 20 min. I told her it was the "potty clock". The first time it went off, she said with excitement, "Mommy, the polly clock!" Then she sat on her little potty for quite a while and I said, "Sophie, are you ready to get up?" She said, "No tanks, Mom." (No, thanks) She just loved sitting on the potty. Unfortunately, that was all she did on the potty. She read books, drew on her magna-doodle, watched tv...but would go potty in her pull up between potty clock rings. Fun times!

Well, that's all I can think of right now, but my day is filled with conversations with this little one. She's such a joy to me and I'm so thankful for her!

Beautiful Berry

About this time 15 years ago, I was a senior in high school and praying for God to show me where He wanted me to go to college. I honestly had no idea. I knew that I was ready for a change. Some place new and different. My friends and I went to visit some colleges with our high school mentor, and one trip sent us up to Rome, GA to visit Berry and Shorter colleges. I had never been to Rome and never heard of Berry. None of my family members had gone there. When I stepped on campus, I was amazed. From then on, I was convinced that this was the school God wanted me to go to. My parents were not able to afford a private school like this. I honestly didn't plan to attend a private college. They were calling Berry to tell them I couldn't come (I was very upset because this was the only school I applied to...I was THAT convinced!), and the girl my mom was talking to said they had a work program and I could apply to do that and it would pay for my tuition. Wow! Talk about a God thing! So two weeks after I graduated from high school, I moved on to Berry College campus. It was a little scary at first...I didn't know anyone and wasn't familiar with the area. Plus I was almost 2 1/2 hours away from home. It was a big step. But soon after I arrived, I found that I had some sweet roommates (Hey, Amy!) and God just took care of the rest. My time at Berry, the people I met, the experiences I had, impacted me in a great way. I also love the way that the school was founded....Martha Berry lived in Rome and wanted to share Bible stories with the mountain children. That turned into wanting to provide them with an education, and for those who couldn't afford it, she would provide work for them to pay for their education (one of my jobs was working at the Martha Berry Museum :-D). It was neat to go to a school that got it's start in that way. I have so many great memories from there. Berry is on my mind today because it's the annual Mountain Day on campus. It celebrates Martha Berry/the school and was always so much fun. I, unfortunately, have been unable to go since I graduated. This year was my ten year reunion. I'm kind of sad I missed it. But, maybe some other year we'll get to go. I hope that my children will be exposed to such a beautiful place and who knows...maybe God will lead one of mine to go there! Hope you enjoy some pictures of some of my favorite places.

Pray for Ruslana

Ruslana

I wanted to ask on behalf of Elisabeth http://www.nogreatergift.blogspot.com/, her family, and Ruslana, that you would read her blog and pray for them!! Ruslana is a precious little girl who has downs syndrome. She's in an orphanage and Elisabeth and family want to adopt her....has been praying to adopt her for a long time now. She just found out that Ruslana is about to be moved to a mental institution and it may be impossible for them to get her, even though they have raised the money and done the paperwork to get her. Please pray for them. You'll be touched by their sweet story.

Changing things up!

This week has been a good week. I may have mentioned this before (I tend to repeat things sometimes :-D), but I have felt the need/conviction to change some of the daily routines we've had here at home. Since I had Isaac in late January, I feel like I've been in kind of a haze. The first 3 or 4 months, I was not getting nearly enough sleep due to repeat ear infections and day/nights mixed up on the part of my sweet boy. I was always tired...laying on the couch in the mornings while Sophie watched PBS and usually didn't get out of my pjs until after noon. I've been doing that for quite a while. I have been feeling sluggish. I started feeling a little guilty about that. Sophie was becoming a TV zombie. Barely answering my questions while she was staring at the tv. Anyway, I could go on and on, but basically I felt a personal conviction to change our family routine. I started listing out some things that I'd like to start doing with Sophie. Monday was the day we got started. I woke up at 8:30am (this is early for me, believe it or not...and it's before the kids get up!), got dressed, made up the bed, got breakfast for myself and had my quiet time. Just to do these things is pretty amazing in itself! I haven't had a morning quiet time in I don't know when! Then I heard the kids stirring around 9:15, so I started getting them up, got them dressed, and got their breakfast. By 10:30 we were finished with breakfast and we were off to play outside!! Something we have also not done most of the summer. I have been so consumed with trying to clean the house, come out of my sleep coma, etc. in the mornings that we just end up staying inside. Well, it was high time to start going out more. We did and it was wonderful! The cooler air really helped, too. I got out some patio furniture my parents gave us, cleaned it up, and put it under the carport, which I also cleaned up. I did a lot of much needed housekeeping outside. Sophie found a little Barbie car that some friends of ours gave us about a year ago (it's been sitting in our storage house in the back yard) and I cleaned it up and she loves it! She's just the right size for it now. She can't get enough of it! We've been coming in and eating lunch around noon, have a little down time, and then we've been having "rest time" at 2. Even Sophie has been resting in her room! Unbelievable! I have also been able to get a nap every day at this time! Praise the Lord! Then we get up after about an hour or so and have a snack, then get ready for supper. Then the rest of the night we either have some kind of church thing or playing in the house. We've been doing this almost all week. Wednesday we hit the Goodwill and I got some awesome deals! It made my day! Sophie got to do a special art project with our children's director at church during this time. Today we had to do our big Walmart trip, so that took all morning. But tonight Sophie and I made homemade pizza for supper and we all sat outside on the patio furniture and ate supper! It was so fun! I feel like God is working through this new routine. I've seen a change in me and the kids. Sophie doesn't sit and zombie out on me during the day. She even turns the tv off and plays more. I know this is a long post, but I was so excited about this change. Please pray for us, that we'll continue this routine! God is also helping me accomplish the cleaning tasks that I didn't think I'd have the time for, although it's taking a little more time than it used to. Thanks so much and God bless!